Greg's March Madness

A.C. Newman – Get Guilty – 3.5

I had to look and make sure I didn’t put on one of my Partridge Family albums, but I didn’t, it was just A.C. Newman. This was a fun little album that grew on me the more I listened. I found myself tapping through all of the corniness. I actually had to look up when this cd was released because I would have guessed it was an oldie.

The Bottlerockets – Greatest Hits

I guess it’s official, I’m not a Bottlerockets fan. I’m sure that they sound great after a few Budweiser’s and some party mix at Murphy and Scarletti’s, but I don’t drink Bud and I don’t do party mix and bars (said with a southern drawl). The band was a little too Georgia Satellites for me.

Spoon – A Series of Sneaks - 3

Nicely structured band. They were tight even though they sound raw. This reminded me of the Police. It didn’t sound like them, but to me the band had that same energy. I only gave the cd one good listen, but I really did like most of what I heard. Plus, Mike said that I am stupid if I don’t like them.

U2 – No Line On The Horizon – 3.5

I like it. Bono may be a bit eccentric, but they know how to make a catchy tune. This felt different than other U2 cds and it wasn’t the Joshua Tree, but it had just enough of the sounds of the older stuff that I liked what I heard. It won’t be on my favorite cds of the year, but I won’t turn it off when it comes on.

Good Rats – Tasty - 4

Really “Guess Whoish”, or maybe the Guess Who is really “Good Ratish”, I don’t know who came first. When I first put this in I didn’t think I was going to like it at all. But this is an awesome disk.

A List and an essay...

1) The 5 greatest solo or side project albums from an artist better known for his/her work with another band (or as a solo artist) are:

Not in any particular order:

Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson

Roger Waters – Amused To Death

Jack White - Racounteurs

Paul Simon – Graceland

Robert Plant – Principle of Moments

2) At the first annual Down Your Nose croquet tournament, you are struck in the head by an errant shot (Ken’s) and lapse into a coma. When you awake, your musical tastes have changed EXACTLY 180 degrees. If you thought the Beatles were the greatest group ever, you wake up thinking they were the worst. If you once despised the Bee Gees, you now love them (D’Arcy becomes a Springsteen groupie). If you thought alternative country was kind of good, you now think it kind of bad. Your 5 star reviews become zeros, your 1 star reviews become 4 stars, etc. Your opinion on everything you hear is precisely the opposite of what it was. You have no memory of your pre-accident musical tastes. Ignoring the practical issue of replacing your music collection, do you see this as a negative event? Why or why not?

There is a deeper consciousness that prevents me from liking country, polka or Kenny G’s music regardless of the circumstances. My brain is programmed and would remain in a self induced coma until my music tastes were restored (no comments from the peanut gallery). If this didn’t happen within a reasonable timeframe my brain would enter a self induced vegetative state at which time my medical directive would kick in saving me from a fate worse than death.